PATNA — Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging his intervention to protect the rights of gig and platform delivery workers and address what he termed their growing exploitation.
In his letter, the RJD leader said he was writing on behalf of millions of gig and platform delivery workers across India, who are facing a deepening crisis due to deteriorating working conditions and systematic violations of basic labour rights.
Referring to the nationwide flash strike held by delivery workers on December 25, 2025, Jha said the protest significantly disrupted delivery services in several cities, including Delhi, Karnataka, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.
He stressed that the strike was not a spontaneous reaction but a desperate response to long-standing exploitation, declining incomes, insecure work models, and the absence of effective grievance redressal mechanisms.
Jha alleged that instead of engaging in dialogue, several platform companies responded with arbitrary measures, including blocking worker IDs, imposing algorithmic penalties, threatening account deactivations, using police pressure during peaceful protests, and deploying agencies to break the strike.
He described these actions as a direct attack on workers’ constitutional right to organise and express dissent.
Highlighting the nature of gig work, Jha said workers are subjected to dangerous and inhumane delivery models, such as 10-minute deliveries, excessive working hours without adequate rest, and declining per-order payments. He further alleged that platform companies exercise complete algorithmic control without transparency or accountability, while shifting business risks—such as accidents, health hazards, fuel costs, and vehicle maintenance—entirely onto workers, even as they are labelled “partners” instead of employees.
The RJD MP also raised broader social concerns, citing an analysis by Prabir Kumar Chandopadhyay, stating that the quick-delivery culture is not merely demand-driven but is actively reshaping consumer behaviour.
He warned that the growing dependence on instant delivery is undermining self-reliance, planning skills, and productivity among the younger generation, while increasing pressure on workers and promoting a culture of instant gratification.
Against this backdrop, Jha urged the Prime Minister to intervene decisively and consider a series of demands, including bringing platform companies under existing labour laws, recognising gig and platform workers as workers with enforceable rights, banning unsafe delivery models, such as 10-minute deliveries, ending arbitrary ID blocking and algorithmic penalties, with due process and appeal mechanisms, implementing a fair and transparent wage structure with a guaranteed minimum wage linked to working hours and actual costs, providing comprehensive social security, including health insurance, accident coverage, disability benefits, and old-age pensions, regulating algorithmic management systems to ensure transparency, non-discrimination, and accountability, and ensuring the right to unionise and collective bargaining without fear of retaliation
Concluding his letter, Jha said that the nationwide strike reflects growing anger and dissatisfaction among gig workers.
He emphasised that the seriousness of the situation demands immediate government intervention so that India’s digital economy is built on justice, security, and dignity, rather than what he described as an architecture of exploitation.
The RJD leader called for a meaningful initiative towards a comprehensive national law to protect gig and platform workers across the country. — IANS
